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Raisin In The Sun


The play Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is a classic story about a small black family living in South Chicago. The story is about the Younger’s family and their problems with poverty, racism and the question of dreams being fulfilled. All characters in this play add a unique touch to the story, but out of Beneatha, Ruth, Walter, Travis, and Lena, I found myself to be sympathetic towards Ruth Younger. She was wife of Walter Younger and mother of Travis Younger. Throughout the play, Ruth appears to be weary and depressed. She hates living in the run down, dingy, rat hole of an apartment. She also knows that her marriage is falling apart and is tired of Walter’s absurd and foolish dreams. Walter has this dream in the play, where he longs to escape the poverty of South Chicago and have a nice home in a clean and safe neighborhood. He dreams of his son being wealthy when growing up and being able to purchase expensive jewelry for his wife. Walter believes that money will indeed buy him happiness. He is so over his head with this dream that he leaves home and skips out on work for a couple of days drinking at the Kitty Kat bar.
The point in the play where I initially began to feel sympathy for Ruth was when she found out she was pregnant with her second child. When Walter came home he didn’t care to talk to his wife. All he wanted to do was go out and make an investment. Lena told Walter that Ruth was going to abort the baby, and wanted to see if he would stand up to Ruth as her

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(Lena’s) husband had years back when one of his children was unborn. Instead, Walter said nothing and had no interest in Ruth’s pregnancy. All he was focused on was his dream. I felt horrible for Ruth. I could not imagine being in a place where a woman finds out she is pregnant and her husband does not care. There once was a passion between Ruth and Walter but the hard times have...